Monday, December 12, 2005

Speaking Out to the MRCOG

The Metropolitan Transportation Board (MTB) of the Mid-Region Council of Governments (MRCOG) will hold a public meeting at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, December 16, 2005 at MRGC's office (809 Copper Avenue, N.W. in Albuquerque). On the agenda will be the MTB's decision on whether to allow the City of Albuquerque to amend the 2025 Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) to provide for four general purpose lanes of traffic on the non-bridge portion of Montaño Road between Coors Boulevard and 4th Street.

Readers of this blog are encouraged to share their thoughts and opinions on whether the MTB should approve the City's amendment request to the MTP during the public comment period of the MTB meeting. If you cannot attend the MTB meeting, please forward your comments to Mr. Mark Sprick, MRCOG Transportation Planning Services Manager, via email at msprick@mrcog-nm.gov or via U.S. Mail at 809 Copper, N.W., Albuquerque, NM 87102. You may also wish to carbon copy City Councilor Debbie O'Malley at domalley@cabq.gov and Mayor Chavez at mayor@cabq.gov.

The Los Alamos Addition Neighborhood Association has weighed in on the subject. Below, reprinted with LAANA's permission, is a letter to the MRCOG from Ron Gedrim, LAANA's President:

Wednesday, 7 December 2005

Dear Mid-Region Council of Governments,

After all the public effort to find reasonable solutions to the Montaño corridor, we are back to where the Chavez administration wanted to be in the first place: headed in the direction of four general purpose lanes, without serious consideration of past precedent, existing plans, public input, or of the Council funded Hall engineering study; without thought given to the long-range consequences of moving people and not just cars; without due concern for the public's safety and welfare. Favoring unbridled development and the single occupant automobile cannot be sustained in our region. A majority of voters opted for an alternative to the Chavez administration; the mayor was elected without a mandate. And now, because of the continuing disregard for public input and due process, the mayor has jeopardized federal transportation dollars and brought the embarrassment of possible administrative, civil, and criminal penalties to our city.

The Mayor's actions on the Montaño corridor have made a mockery of the 2025 Metropolitan Transportation Plan. He does as he wants and, when stopped, rationalizes with weak explanations. How can the city say that it had planned to ask for a change in the transportation plan but was waiting for a City Council study to be released in the fall, when it acted in total defiance of the City Council and the Council's taxpayer funded studies? How can it restripe in defiance of MRCOG and now say that the restriping wasn't "significant to the transportation plan?" What this administration can't achieve by arm-twisting and fiat, it tries by spin. To capitulate to the Mayor's shameless and underhanded tactics is to be complicit in them. Please don't fall into that political trap.

Our neighborhood asks that MRCOG take a reasoned stand that looks beyond development-motivated politics, that places the health, safety, and welfare of the Albuquerque region above all else. We need a forward seeking Montaño corridor that emphasizes the needs of citizens of both sides of the Rio Grande either in honoring previous two-lane agreements, or at most a corridor that includes a transit lane or single reversible HOV lane that connects to a rational, expanding regional system to move people and not just cars. We need a Montaño corridor that achieves walkability, pedestrian safety, and pollution mitigation; a Montaño corridor that intersects with a revitalized and historic Fourth Street corridor.

Please help us to regain a democratic, rational, and forward-looking approach to the Montaño corridor that will truly meet our citizen's future needs. Do not amend the 2025 Metropolitan Transportation Plan to allow the re-striping of Montaño Road from two lanes to four lanes.

WE NEED YOUR HELP! If you would like to be included on our mailing list, would like to volunteer to work on one of our subcommittees, or if you’d just like more information and you can't find it on this blog, please contact Steve Cogan, Chairman, at (505) 350-4513 or via email at 4thStreet@integrity.com.

P.S. - Help spread the word that great things are happening in the 4th Street & Montaño Area! Please forward information about this blog to those who might be interested. Thanks!

Our Goals

The 4th Street & Montaño Area Improvement Coalition includes concerned citizens, neighborhood associations and businesses devoted to making the 4th Street and Montaño area a better place to live, work and do business. The Coalition has organized subcommittees to carry out projects to implement the following four community goals, and the Coalition Executive Committee will encourage, assist and support successful, timely completion of both near-term and longer-term goals.

• Residential and business property values increase substantially over time.

Strategies and Objectives

To move toward the four goals that comprise the community vision, the Coalition has established the following near term strategies and objectives.

1. Increase community identity. Our objectives are to:

• Select a name to define our area

• Complete one successful subcommittee project under each of the four community goals. Examples:

• Traffic―advocate for rapid bus and light rail projects

• Identity―hold community festival or other event

• Pathways―evaluate one trailhead project

• Revitalization―host design charrette

• Complete a 5-year plan for all four goals

2. Galvanize political and financial support. Our objectives are to:

• Assure that the City of Albuquerque’s 2005 General Obligation Bond ballot supports substantial 4th Street & Montaño area improvements

• Build on positive relationships to secure additional Federal, State and City appropriations for area improvements

• Actively tell our story to government officials, neighbors, property owners, developers and the media so that they are each prompted to take actions that support our efforts

3. Complete key technical design studies. These include:

• Work with the appropriate government agencies to undertake a comprehensive traffic study of the Montaño and 4th Street corridors and intersection

• Complete a 4th Street & Montaño Area design charrette

• Complete an accurate assessment of existing pathways and their ownership

What Is the Coaliton All About and Why This Blog?

The 4th Street & Montaño Area Improvement Coalition was formed in 2003 by a group of concerned neighbors and business owners in the area bounded by Douglas MacArthur Road to the south, Solar Road to the north, 2nd Street to the east, and Los Poblanos Open Space to the west. We are commited to reversing years of infrastructure neglect and economic decline by transforming this historically and culturally significant region into a “jewel” within the heart of Albuquerque - an area that enhances the quality of life for all Albuquerqueans.

On July 31 and August 21, 2004, the Coaltion, with encouragement and assistance from the City of Albuquerque, brought together over 100 residents, government officials, and business owners in two "visioning workshops." Participants at these workshops framed a Community Vision for the 4th Street & Montaño Area (a .pdf version of the Community Visioning Report may be downloaded from the following site: http://www.cabq.gov/council/communityvisioningreport.html)and clicking on the "Community Visioning Report [pdf]" link. That Vision is the foundation on which the Coalition's ongoing work - including this blog - will be based.

The purpose of this blog is to continue the important exchange of ideas and information that will help make our Community Vision come alive! We encourage you to use this blog to provide input, identify resources, share ideas and give feedback. We will also post information on the blog concerning upcoming Coalition events, City Council meetings of relevance to our Coalition, and other time-sensitive information - so please be sure to bookmark this blog and check back regularly!

We ask that you limit your posts to those topics, ideas, or criticisms that will move our community forward. The 4th Street & Montaño Area Improvement Coalition welcomes input from all perspectives, including those that may challenge or disagree with the ideas being advanced by the Coalition. However, unconstructive, mean-spirited posts are not welcome and will be deleted.